


Rules and Bravery

by regenderate



Series: Can't Believe It's Not Canon [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 12:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14769497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regenderate/pseuds/regenderate
Summary: Kendra's always followed the rules-- which is why she's completely baffled by Buffy Summers. Buffyverse Femslash Week 2018 Day 1: Canon-Compliant





	Rules and Bravery

**Author's Note:**

> The ship here is pretty faint... but I think there should be more Buffy/Kendra content out there. I'm pretty much writing my femslash week stuff in real time this year, because I haven't had a lot of time to write lately but I have absolutely nothing at all to do this week. So, I apologize for any incoherencies in anything I post this week.

Kendra isn’t allowed to talk to boys. 

By the nature of her upbringing, of course, she doesn’t talk to many girls, but there are a few other Potentials assigned to her Watcher, and of course she talks to them from time to time. They learn together, but they work alone: the Slayer cannot have friends, and so neither can the Slayers-in-training. 

But she  _ really _ isn’t allowed to talk to boys.

Somehow, she’s never minded. Mr. Zabuto is very strict that she and her fellow Potentials don’t date, and, anyway, Kendra doesn’t understand why she would care about boys. She’s seen them from afar, sometimes, and they mostly just look… loud, and boring, and like they don’t follow the rules. 

The other girls don’t necessarily follow the rules, either, but they’re interesting. Kendra doesn’t talk to them much (because she  _ does _ follow the rules, and the rules say no friends, no personal attachments), but she listens to them talk to each other, and she watches them spar, and she appreciates the ways their bodies move, and the ways they always seem to have so much to say. Kendra never has much to say, and when she does, it’s about Slaying, battle tactics, demons, how to take down a vampire.

And so it’s only logical when one evening Kendra is getting ready for bed and suddenly feels a buzz in her veins. She knows exactly what’s happening, and she knows exactly what to do next. She tests her powers on a punching bag, and then, when she’s convinced that she’s right about what’s going on, she goes to Mr. Zabuto and she says, “I am the Slayer now.”

She’s always been separate from the other girls; now she has the ultimate separation. She is the Slayer.

Six months after she’s Called, she’s killed countless vampires, a few demons, and averted one apocalypse. She’s been all over South America, and she’s seen a whole lot. Mr. Zabuto is telling her it’s time to branch out. After all, the Slayer has to protect the whole world, not just her home continent. 

Privately, Kendra’s always thought that makes no sense. There’s too much evil for one girl to fight. But no one asked her, and she’s not allowed to offer her thoughts unprompted.

And Kendra has to follow orders, and anyway, if she’s going to see the world, Sunnydale, California, seems like a fine place to start. It’s where the old Slayer died, Mr. Zabuto says, right on top of the  _ Boca del Infierno _ \-- as it turns out, it’s also where the old Slayer still lives, calling her home a Hellmouth. 

Kendra is confused by this Slayer, for more reasons than just the fact that she’s supposed to be dead. Her name is Buffy, first of all, which is maybe the most American name Kendra can think of. And the rest of her is the same-- completely American. Her Watcher lets her run free, and she even has friends, more friends than Kendra can keep track of, and a  _ boyfriend _ who is somehow also a vampire and somehow that’s all just  _ fine _ . It’s all a bit much for Kendra, who hasn’t ever even been to school. 

But still, she says hello to Buffy’s friends, even the one who’s a boy who she technically still isn’t allowed to talk to, and then they walk out of the school (in the middle of the day!) to go rescue Buffy’s vampire boyfriend.

The walk is awkward at first. Kendra doesn’t know what to say. Buffy’s standing up straight, her head turned away from Kendra, and Kendra wants to reach out somehow. 

“I’m sorry,” she says, awkwardly. “I did not know he was your boyfriend.”

“Hopefully he still is,” Buffy says, her words directed at Kendra like a needle jabbing into her skin. She’s beautiful, Kendra realizes, full of fire to protect the people she loves.

“Yes,” Kendra agrees. “I hope so too.” She can’t imagine doing harm to another souled being. She kills vampires, sure, but that’s because they’re evil, and usually they’re trying to kill her first. This one’s not evil, and he only tried to kill her because he thought _she_ was evil. That thought sends chills down her spine. She doesn’t want to be evil. She may be a tool, but she's be a tool of good.

They get to Willy’s, and they don’t find Angel, but it’s not Kendra’s fault. That’s what Kendra repeats over and over in her head-- there are no ashes. There are no ashes. Someone saved Angel before Kendra could.

Buffy wants to go off and save Angel immediately, and Kendra is appalled. How could Buffy break the rules like this? Surely she knows that there are procedures, there are protocols, she has to ask her Watcher before she just runs off.

It soon becomes clear that Buffy does know, and she chooses not to follow. Even the freest of the girls at home wouldn’t dream of this, and Kendra is astonished. She stares as Buffy marches off, all self-righteous, and she tries to figure out what to do now.

In the end, she goes back to Buffy’s Watcher, and it turns out that  _ was  _ the right thing to do, but Kendra doesn’t even notice in the thrill of seeing Buffy in danger, and jumping into battle.

(In the end, maybe they were both right: Buffy saves Angel, and Kendra gets help, and together they defeat the evil and everything. They make a good team, maybe.)

Kendra sleeps at Buffy’s house that night. Buffy gives some excuse to Joyce-- “This is Kendra, and she’s a foreign exchange student, and she’s  _ never had  _ a sleepover. Can she stay with us tonight?” --and then she sets up a movie and makes popcorn and says to Kendra, “This is how friends are.”

Kendra isn’t sure what to think of that, because she still isn’t allowed to have friends, and everything about this situation is ringing a lot of alarm bells in her head, but she wants to be polite, and so she nods and eats the popcorn and watches the movie. 

She can’t stop thinking about how  _ brave _ Buffy is. Kendra isn’t brave at all-- she just does what she’s told. Buffy does what she  _ wants _ , and sometimes what she wants is jumping into battle completely unencumbered by rules and Watchers, and she doesn’t even seem to realize how brave she’s really being, going against the whole Council like that. If Kendra were braver right now, she’d ask Buffy about that, about how she manages it. 

Kendra’s not brave, though, and anyway, Buffy seems pretty engrossed in the movie, so Kendra turns her attention back to the popcorn and the screen and pretends she’s an American teenager.

The next day, Buffy lets Kendra borrow (or, more accurately, take) one of her shirts. Kendra refuses the hug that Buffy offers, but there’s a part of her that wishes she could take it. She’s never really wanted emotional attachments before, but now that she’s gotten a taste of what a Slayer’s life can be, she can’t get it out of her head.

But she knows the rules, and she’s going to follow them, because that’s what she knows how to do. No hugs. No emotional attachments. 

Still, as she goes back home, she can’t stop thinking about Buffy Summers, the beautiful Sunnydale Slayer who does whatever she wants whenever she wants. She can’t stop thinking about how they make a good team.


End file.
